Men's Basketball 3/8/2024 1:53:00 PM Jeff Weiss, Senior Associate Director of Athletics/Media Relations

Men's Basketball To Face Ferris State In GLIAC Semifinals

STORYLINES
Wayne State advanced to the GLIAC Semifinals for the first time 2012 with an 87-78 triumph at second-seeded Lake Superior State on Wednesday evening. WSU shot 60 percent (12-of-20) from beyond the arc, and a stellar 96 percent (21-of-22) from the charity stripe.

The Warriors last semifinal victory was in 2011, a 73-64 win over Findlay in Big Rapids. The next afternoon Wayne State edged host Ferris State 73-71 behind 22 points and 15 rebounds from Mike Hollingsworth, along with 11 points and nine assists from Bryan Smothers.

Ferris State secured its spot in the semifinals with an 84-82 home court win over Parkside on Wednesday behind four players with 16 points each in Dolapo Olayinka, Ben Davidson, Amari Lee and Ethan Erickson.

THE SERIES
Ferris State has a 56-41 lead in the all-time series. This will be the fifth neutral court meeting in the series with each team winning twice before. The Bulldogs prevailed 70-67 in the 1987 NCAA North Central Regional semifinal in St. Cloud, Minn., while the Tartars posted a 72-67 triumph in the 1993 GLIAC First Round tournament game at Northern Michigan. The Warriors won 68-63 in a 2005 GLIAC semifinal in Findlay, Ohio, while Ferris State claimed the 2011 NCAA Midwest Regional Quarterfinal at Bellarmine (Louisville, Ky.) by a 90-88 score.

This will be the fourth meeting in the GLIAC Tournament between the two schools.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
Ferris State has won four consecutive games for 11th-year head coach Andy Bronkema. The 2018 national coach of the Year after leading FSU to a national title, Bronkema has notched a 152-67 mark in GLIAC play during his tenure.

Three Bulldogs are averaging in double figures including junior Ethan Erickson (14.2 PPG) and fifth-year seniors Ben Davidson (13.7 PPG) and Dolapo Olayinka (12.3 PPG). Davidson has made a team-best 153 field goals, while Erickson has drained 98 triples and is shooting 45 percent (98-of-216) from three-point range. Olayinka leads the squad with 139 rebounds and 37 blocked shots, with Amari Lee (104 assists) and Jimmy Scholler (100 assists) tops among distributing the basketball.

LAST TIME OUT - AT LAKE SUPERIOR STATE
Wayne State won its first GLIAC Tournament game since 2012, and its first opening round GLIAC Tournament game either on the road (or neutral site) since Feb. 25, 1999, with a near wire-to-wire 87-78 triumph at Lake Superior State University Wednesday evening.

Wayne State led for 18:13 of the opening half compared to just 27 seconds for the Lakers. LSSU's Kingsley Perkins scored the opening bucket of the game in the first 20 seconds, but that would be the only lead of the game for the hosts. Colin Golson tied the game on the ensuing possession, then drained a triple 45 seconds later.

WSU led 12-7 at the first media timeout, then remained in front 16-12 with 11:38 left. Lake Superior tallied eight of the next 15 points to pull within three 23-20 with just under six minutes remaining before intermission. Over the next three-plus minutes, the Warriors held a 9-5 scoring advantage to extend their margin to seven at 32-25.

Wayne State managed just three points over the final four minutes of the first half, but still led 35-31 at halftime.

The Warriors started the second half by out-scoring the hosts 10-5 in the first 3:30 to lead 45-36.

Over the next five minutes, WSU totaled 15 points compared to 13 for the Lakers, which put the Warriors ahead 60-49 with 11:37 remaining.

WSU increased its lead to 70-58 over the next 3:30, then had its biggest lead of the game (15 / 73-58) following Carmelo Harris' fourth triple of the contest. Wayne State's last 10 points came at the charity stripe as WSU made 10 of its final 11 foul shots to seal the victory.

Wayne State shot 51 percent (27-of-53) from the floor, compared to LSSU's 49 percent (29-of-59). WSU made 12-of-20 (60 percent) from beyond the arc, while the Lakers were 8-of-19 (42 percent). The Warriors were a magnificent 21-of-22 (96 percent) at the foul line, with Lake Superior connecting on 12-of-16 from the charity stripe (75 percent). LSSU won the battle of the boards 31-28, and out-scored WSU 38-16 in the paint.

Rob Lee, Jr. notched a career-high this time with 23 points, including 10-of-10 from the foul line. He also grabbed seven boards, to finish one behind Golson for the team lead. Golson was 9-of-12 from the floor and finished with 22 points. Harris drained four triples to finish with 16 points and six assists to zero turnovers with three steals.

TOURNAMENT TIME
Wednesday's victory at LSSU marked the first time WSU won an opening round GLIAC Tournament game either on the road (or neutral site) since Feb. 25, 1999, when the Tartars defeated SVSU 79-61 in Battle Creek.

Wayne State has a 15-14 all-time mark in the GLIAC Tournament following the triumph in Sault Ste. Marie. WSU is 6-4 in neutral site games, including two wins over FSU (1993 in Marquette and 2005 at Findlay).

LEADING THE WARRIORS
Wayne State's leading scorer is Carmelo Harris at 12.9 points per contest thanks to 16 games of at least 12 points, including eight straight from Nov. 18 to Dec. 17. Harris is one of five Warriors notching at least 8.7 points per outing, along with Colin Golson, Jr. (10.3), Rob Lee, Jr. (10.0), Ray Williams, Jr. (9.4 PPG) and Tamario Adley (8.7 PPG). Williams, Jr. and Golson, Jr. are neck and neck when it comes to the rebounding crown averaging 5.8 and 5.7, respectively. Assist wise, Adley is on top of the squad with 3.1 per performance (10th in the GLIAC). Offensive efficiency wise, Lee, Jr. is first in three-point percentage (.485) and Harris ranks first in free throw percentage (.887).

DOUBLE OVERTIME AFFAIRS
Prior to the Feb. 15 double overtime setback at Lake Superior, WSU's previous two-overtime game was Nov. 8, 2019, at home vs. Ohio Dominican. The Panthers won that game 87-86.

ALL FIVE STARTERS IN DOUBLE FIGURES
All five WSU starters scored in double figures in the Feb. 15 double overtime loss at LSSU. It was the second time this season, all five Warrior starters were in double figures. The first was Nov. 21st in an 84-73 WSU home court victory over Lake Erie.

PLAYOFF BROADCAST COVERAGE
Kevin Brechmacher, the voice of Wayne State basketball, will broadcast the game on Warrior All-Access (audio only), while the video stream will be available through FloHoops.com.

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Players Mentioned

#5 Tamario Adley: G; 6' 2"; Sophomore

#1 Colin Golson, Jr.: F; 6' 5"; Redshirt Junior

#11 Carmelo Harris: G; 5' 10"; Sophomore

#24 Rob Lee, Jr.: G; 6' 3"; Freshman

#23 Ray Williams, Jr.: G/F; 6' 4"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#5 Tamario Adley
: 6' 2"; Sophomore
: G

#1 Colin Golson, Jr.
: 6' 5"; Redshirt Junior
: F

#11 Carmelo Harris
: 5' 10"; Sophomore
: G

#24 Rob Lee, Jr.
: 6' 3"; Freshman
: G

#23 Ray Williams, Jr.
: 6' 4"; Senior
: G/F